Integrative Health Blog

After a big storm everybody has to go out into the cold and do hard labor. Shovel full after shovel full of snow being thrown onto a big pile so we can get to our cars, get the kids to school or even just open the front door. Unfortunately, shoveling snow is not a normal movement for us and can result in injuries we should not ignore, but many of us do. As soon as the pain hits, we start to get those loving reminders from our spouses to go have it looked at, but most of the time it falls on deaf ears. Some ibuprofen, Tylenol, heat and rest is what most people do. Then a week later you may be feeling OK. If it doesn’t go away most people continue to tolerate it until it resolves on its own or turns into something worse, and that can be a mistake.

I have been a chiropractor for over 12 years and have seen every type of chronic pain that a person can have, including neck pain.

What is amazing about the original article Dr. Mercola is referencing is that it was researched and funded by NIH (National Institutes of Health) and the medical journal, Annals of Internal Medicine.Mainstream medical establishments are showing you that drugs work little to not at all with chronic neck pain.Unfortunately the United States has become dependant on medications as our standard answer to most any pain problem. It is not surprising to see an elderly person on 10-12 medications, but are they getting better?Not only are they taking a lot of medications but they are sedentary and not living full lives because of chronic pain.Yet in China you see the elderly doing Tai Chi in the park and taking little medication. Why? Different cultures, different mindsets, different medicine.

In the September 2011 issue of Consumer Reports an article was written entitled “Alternative Therapies” in which 45,000 readers tell you what helped the most with their health issues.

Here are the results:

Chiropracticranked 1st in back pain and neck pain, 3rd in headaches/migraines. Chiropractic was also ranked 3rd and 4th in Osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia, respectively. Even more interesting, chiropractic was ranked in 2nd in Cold & Flu and 3rd for Allergies.

So what does this have to do with you?

Chiropractic care can help your health tremendously! People are using chiropractic for medical conditions like back and neck pain, but they are also using it to treat a variety of other health issues like carpal tunnel, plantar fasciitis and temporal mandibular dysfunction (TMD.) Also, you don’t have to see a chiropractor just for pain; it is also used for preventative care.

Chiropractic is More Mainstream than Alternative

Chiropractic is mainstream in healthcare now! I’ve watched Chiropractic use increase in the past 15 years on the East Coast. I’m excited to see people learn more about chiropractic and use it for a variety of issues. But I am even more excited when I see people who thought that they were just going to have to live with their health conditions decide to utilize chiropractic and then improve to the point where they feel normal again. All because they made the choice to get chiropractic care and receive it’s benefits.